Kate used one hand to steady and stretch the skin of Simon’s bare chest. Making use of the spread of her fingers, she rested the base of the rod onto her thumb and began to rhythmically pierce the skin, injecting the powerful ink with each tap. Simon breathed in and out slowly despite the sharp and steady pain, so as not to disturb the area she was marking. Kate’s fingers were warm against his cooling flesh. He watched as the tip of her tongue pressed against her shapely upper lip in concentration. She paused every few seconds to wipe the excess ink and blood off his skin and study her line.
Kate’s tattooing method was her own. The act wasn’t masterful or beautiful to observe, but the result was precise and that was all that counted. Beads of sweat marked her brow. Slowly the design of a long-dead rune took form. Compared to his old tattoos, this symbol was relatively simplistic. But she might have been weaving the Bayeux tapestry for all the concentration that Kate was forced to expend on it. It was the same symbol that had been used on the bow of the golden key, a rune created by Simon’s father. He had long thought the emblem to be a stylized compass, but he wondered now if it was a rising sun. Hopefully not a setting sun.
Minute after minute crawled by. Simon’s chest grew numb so he no longer felt the jabs of the needle. Kate blinked constantly, growing fatigued from the focused strain. Penny stood close to Kate, watching with great interest, studying technique more than product. Nick paced before the French windows, occasionally glancing up but preferring to stare at the floor. Malcolm stood quiet and motionless, never removing his eyes from the arcane activity.
Kate hesitated, holding the needle above Simon’s skin. He looked up, but before he could ask her what was wrong, she jabbed down as if in punctuation. With a whisper that could have been a word, the arcane ink sank into Simon’s skin. He gasped hard as his blood burned. The outline of the tattoo glowed a vivid green as if there were a light source behind it.
Just as abruptly, Kate’s tools dropped from her fingers. Her breathing sharpened into short gulps. She leaned dizzily over him.
“Kate!” Simon half rose off the table, his hands grabbed her forearms before she tilted to the side.
“I wasn’t expecting it to hit me so fast,” Kate muttered, holding a hand to her head.
The house suddenly shook. Penny and Nick were thrown to the floor. Glassware rattled.
Malcolm rushed across the laboratory and took hold of Kate. Simon leapt off the table and together they laid her there. The Scotsman looked at Simon with dread in his gaze. “Can you help her?”
Hogarth appeared in the doorway and started to speak, but the sight of Kate’s supine form stopped him.
Trying to keep the dread from his face, Simon said grimly, “She is fine, Hogarth. What’s the matter?”
With his gaze locked on her, the manservant said with unnerving calm, “We have a situation.”
Simon turned to Malcolm, “Go.”
“But you said—” Malcolm hesitated.
“I’ve my wits about me. I’ll make right decision, if need be. Go. All of you.”
Malcolm nodded and ran out of the laboratory, with Penny and Nick on his heels. Hogarth paused, but then turned and headed for the front of the house.
Kate’s eyes rolled up in the back of her head and she slumped insensible. Anger surged in Simon, fearing they had fallen into Ash’s trap. Even so, he would not loose Kate. He ripped open her bodice so her upper chest was bare right above her corseted breasts. He grabbed the ink bowl beside him, thrusting a finger in the mixture. He drew quick strokes on her with his dripping finger, writing the standard rune for desist. There was no reaction from Kate, neither did the burning of his blood abate. His inscription wasn’t working. He felt no connection to the aether.
Kate moaned again and Simon brushed the hair back from her face, desperate now. She trusted him to save her. If he couldn’t figure this out fast enough, he would drain Kate dry. He had to dam up the flow of energy between them.
He scribed another black rune across her pale flesh. The new word did nothing. Simon slammed a hand down onto the table. “Damn it!”
An explosion vibrated in the distance. Penny’s blunderbuss from the sound of it. He had no idea what they were facing outside, but if it was Gaios, they would need help from both him and Kate.
He blackened his finger again and once more drew over Kate’s flesh, this time inverting his father’s rune, a mirror opposite of his own. Her breathing grew even more shallow, her lips losing color.
Maybe he didn’t have enough aether yet. But there was no time. It could take hours, days even. Kate had mere minutes. They should have known better than to use blood magic. He should have known better. Blood spells were insidious and—
Then he knew. He rushed for another table and grabbed a scalpel. Without hesitation, he sliced into his open palm, carving an inverted version of his father’s rune. Blood dripped bold red to the floor. Then he turned back to Kate and slapped his hand right above her left breast beneath her collarbone.